Oh, What A Dance
by x.lunamire
Summary: Brock finally convinces Misty to attend the dance; she just hopes she won't end up regretting it. Stupid cliches. Five Short Chapters of Ash/Misty. :56 of the 100-Theme Challenge:
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Oh, What A Dance

**Prompt: **#56: Danger Ahead

**Pairings: **Hints of Ash/Misty.. Until about the fifth one-shot "chapter".

**Rating: **K+

**Warnings: **Not great quality, but this was really fun to write. A fairly lame prom-story.

**Notes: **A set up of five mini-chapters, this one's pretty much the shortest. I tried to make it funny but that may have been an epic fail. If you have time, send me a challenge or a prompt or a one-shot request. Feedback's great too.

Nope… wait…. Nope, still don't own Pokemon. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy this.

--

"_Be sure when you step,_

_Step with care and great tact,_

_And remember that life's_

_A Great Balancing Act…" _– **Dr. Seuss**

--

"And which idiot are you going to convince to do _that_?" Misty laughed, catching her own eye in the little pull-down mirror of Brock's beat-up old pick up.

The simple question that would seal her fate and cause so much trouble.

"Well..," was Brock's answer, his squinting eyes briefly pleading with hers before his attention returned to the road. It wasn't long before she caught the honest distress in his voice. She promptly switched to refusal mode.

"Brock! I can't believe you'd even ask me that!" And she couldn't. Misty wasn't exactly the epitome of the 'Perfect Right-Hand Man,' and she just couldn't fathom why Brock would implore _her, _of all people, to serve as his third wheel. "You know I'm not that into dancing… A-_and_ I have things to do! Ask someone else!"

She made a spontaneous attempt at escaping the truck, but couldn't manage to get the piece-of-crap door open. The handle merely gave a fruitless wiggle, no matter how much weight she threw into it. It probably wouldn't have been a good idea anyway. Leaping out of a moving vehicle never seemed to produce good results.

"Come on Misty… I need _someone _to help me survive my first night spent with an actual _female _-" he chose to ignore his friend's conspicuous eye roll, "-and since you're one of my closest friends, I thought you'd be a good candidate!"

"Brock..," she began, rubbing her face in her hands, "It's kind of late to get a date, isn't it? Don't you have to have a date to get into the Valentine's Day dance? And why don't you ask Ash? He'd probably be more enthusiastic to do this than I would!"

Brock gulped. Hard. He pulled into his gravel driveway and gripped the steering wheel tightly.

"And that's the other thing…"

"_What, _Brock?"

"Umm…"

"Just say it!" Misty growled.

"Well, I was kind of hoping… You and Ash could go together." He immediately curled his body into a ball, covering his head with his flailing arms.

"_WHAT? _Brock, no!" Misty's face revealed her opinion, even more so than her verbal reaction. "I can't go with _him! _What, now I'm incapable of _finding _my own date?"

"You just said you thought it was too late!" Brock retaliated, bravely glaring at her through the crook in his arm. "And besides, Ash is your best friend! It's not like it's a _real_ date! You're just there for moral support, and it can't hurt you to just hang around with him like you always do."

Misty paused then, unsure of how to respond. It wasn't as if she couldn't stand one night with Ash - they didn't even have to dance - and then… there was always the chance…

"Maybe Ash'll even kiss you after the slow dances," Brock winked, scurrying out onto the driveway before Misty could make the connection between the words and what he was implying. The contents of her makeup bag scattered across the driver's seat as she hurled it at his retreating form.

When her tan friend had disappeared, Misty succumbed tiredly into her seat and groaned. These situations were just typical of her life. People using her for their own gain weren't an uncommon practice for her friends and family.

"Why?" she moaned miserably, "Why me?"

--

[_"Kid, you'll move mountains."_]

--Lunamire


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **Oh, What A Dance

**Prompt: **#60: Rejection

**Pairings: **Ash/Misty if you stick with it.

**Rating: **K

**Warnings: **None

**Notes: **AU (In case you were confused), part two of five. I may have failed to make it funny… Please review, tell me what you think.

--

"_Everything is a rejection of you. Not your product, or your script…" _– **Morgan Brittany**

--

"Please?" she begged, hands folded in front of her pleadingly. She was down to her last options; begging complete strangers to accompany her to the dance. Misty had long since abandoned the idea of going with Ash. Not only was it too embarrassing to lower herself to going with her best friend, but it wasn't like there weren't _thousands _of available guys in her school.

"Umm… Sorry, Misty. But, I, uh, have to…. Um… help my, uh... Grandma this weekend…?"

…Or maybe not...

"But the dance falls on a Thursday this year."

"Well, yeah, but I also have to- look; I have to get to my class, alright?"

Misty threw her hands into the air and screamed, ignoring the strange looks from the nosy upperclassmen passing by. _"_But it's _lunch!"_

"Face it, Misty," said a drained Sakura, sipping noisily from the juice box she had filched from the Cerulean girl's lunch, "you're not going to find a date before next Thursday." She opted not to look straight at her friend, and instead peeked at her out of the corner of her eye. "Everybody's taken. Even _Harley_ has a date."

Misty grimaced. "Drew?"

Sakura tossed the empty juice box into the trash can before replying, "May."

"Kenny?"

"Dawn."

"…Gary?"

"You're kidding right? _Please_ tell me you're kidding."

"I'm desperate here!" Misty yelled.

"Remember those fan girls that used to follow him around, like, everywhere?"

"Oh, yeah… And what about you? Do you have a date?"

"Nope. I'm ditching. Corporately overpriced sell-out holidays don't appeal to me like most of the saps in this school. And unlike you, my friends don't abuse my lack of a life and use it to their own advantage. Plus, Duplica and I have to look over our plans to egg the school and then pin it on her ex. I'm pretty sure we're having rocky road ice cream, too."

"Ugh! How can this be so impossible? Am I really that repulsive to guys?"

"Not really," Sakura reassured, taking a seat on the floor with her back to a locker. She patted the spot next to her and Misty accepted the invitation. "You're just looking pretty frantic at the moment. They smell the despondence and they run."

After a moment's silence, Misty groaned, "I am _so_ doomed."

No response.

"Sakura? This would be a good time for you to comfort me and give me best-friendly advice."

"Huh?" Sakura asked, returning from her blank daze into space. "Oh! Sorry! I was thinking of all the things Ash is going to do to embarrass you at the dance. What was the question?"

"I'm just looking for some encouragement here. Is there any way I can get out of this? And even if I do go with Ash, it won't be _that _bad, right?"

Sakura reached into Misty's bag, digging out a sandwich and a couple granola bars. She broke the sandwich in two and gave part to Misty.

Through a mouthful of peanut butter, she said,

"Nope… You're doomed."

0.0.0

"So I hear we're going to the dance together."

"Shut up, Ash," Misty growled as he brushed past her into the kitchen. There were mugs of hot chocolates waiting for him on the counter and he couldn't just ignore them. "I only agreed to it because I'm a good friend."

He snorted in an obnoxious manner - typical Ash - before joining his buddy Pikachu on the couch. "Chill, Misty. It's gonna be fun!" He gazed up at her with wide brown eyes, thick dark liquid chocolate coating his lips. "Hey, do ya think there'll be food?"

Misty rolled her eyes and chose not to respond to his question. "You're not going to… embarrass me or anything, are you Ash?"

"Nah," he shrugged, "At least not on purpose, anyway. Brock's cooking me a feast and I might not get it if I do."

"He's _bribing _you?!" Misty yelled, eyes frustratedly fixated on the ceiling. "Of course. Once more, Misty gets the short end of the deal… Wait, he had to offer you something in order for you to go with me?!"

At her hysterical question, Ash's cheeks tinged a light pink. "Not exactly…"

"We're, like, here!" Misty's oldest sibling announced as she strutted through Ash's front door.

"W-_what?_!" The redhead screeched, astonished and stunned and a little bit nauseous. Her retaliation only worsened when Violet and Lily also flounced through Ash's living room door. "Why aren't you guys home? In Cerulean? …Not here?!"

"Well, Brock called us and, like, told us you had a dance-"

"-why didn't you, like, tell us, Little Sister-?"

"-and we _totally _had to come here and, like, help you with the preparations!"

"No!" Misty cried, smacking Ash upside the head to quell his snickers. "Honestly, guys, I've got it covered!"

Daisy smiled slyly before saying, "Brock mentioned you'd, like, say that."

"Yeah," Lily continued, stepping forward to be adjacent to her sister, "and you are _so _not going to a dance in, like, _that."_

"What's wrong with this outfit?"

Ash covered his mouth with both hands to fend off his multiplying giggles.

"How can you, like, even _ask _that?"

"It's worse than I thought, girls. Our little sister is officially _fashion blind!"_

Lily and Violet's gasps were almost as melodramatic as Daisy's statement, and they simultaneously marched forward to clench their youngest sister's elbows.

"Let's go!" they squealed, hauling a protesting Misty upstairs to attempt their worst.

"Ash! Ash! _ASH, HELP ME!"_

The boy in question, however, was too engrossed by laughter to even stand. He clutched his stomach and dropped onto the floor, still chuckling.

Pikachu shook its head at its incompetent best friend and visited the kitchen to relieve the fridge of ketchup.

--

[_"It's you."_]

--Lunamire


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: **Oh, What a Dance

**Prompt: **#13: Misfortune

**Pairings: **Slight hinting of Ash/Misty

**Rating: **K

**Warnings: **None. A bit of OOCness, but we'll survive.

**Notes: **Sorry for my lack of updates. I didn't want to update until I wrote some more, but guess what? I haven't written anything.. Ha, I'll get back in the swing of things.

--

"_Misfortune, misfortune, of such a distortion…" – _**The Goo Goo Dolls**

--

"What'dya think they're doing up there?" Tracey asked, arms tucked behind his head and his eyes on the ceiling.

Brock shrugged, pressing the X button on his game controller even faster. "Probably just girl stuff. They've been up there for more than three hours. Can't be much else."

Ash groaned in effort, twisting his whole body to the side with the hope that it would effect his video game's outcome. His fingers were rapidly punching in buttons and combinations and his stare never left the screen. "Yup."

"Plus," Brock continued, "knowing the Sensational Sisters, we'll be here for days. They're never satisfied."

Ash grunted his agreement. "Uh-huh. Can't say I blame 'em though. They _do_ have to transform Misty."

Tracey and Brock shared a knowing glance over the youngest boy's head, who immediately began to whoop and holler in celebration of his victory. Brock's half of the television had faded to black, and large bubble letters saying 'LOSER' flashed repeatedly across it.

"Stupid game anyway..," Brock murmured, tossing his controller onto Ash's coffee table.

At that moment, Daisy, golden hair piled elegantly atop her head, chose to make yet another grand entrance. She held her arms wide, awaiting the praise her boyfriend - not to mention Brock - were sure to give.

While they showered compliments upon her (Lots of 'I have never seen something so beautiful!' 'You're amazingly stunning!' and other assorted cheesy pick-up lines), Lily and Violet also glided down the stairs. The three of them were certainly eye-catching; towering hairstyles, tight strapless dresses in shades of pink, green, and yellow, and shimmering makeup to match.

"We were, like, going to introduce the totally hot - like, unrecognizable - version of Misty…" Violet began excitedly.

"Yeah. But, like, we figured you'd be more interested in seeing the three of us!"

Ash rolled his eyes, prepared to return to a solo video game. But the sound of someone stepping on his infamous creaky step - the bane of his mother's existence - caught his attention. Needless to say, he was shocked.

Misty traveled meticulously down the stairs, careful not to trip and ruin the 'work' that had caused her three hours of torture. She knew her face was probably a vibrant shade of red, so she made sure her eyes remained trained on the ground. She faithfully avoided Ash's gaze.

"So… what do you think?" She asked quietly, still finding it difficult to look straight at his face.

"Y-you look… _great, _Misty," he said sincerely. He was unsure how else to describe the way he felt without sounding like a cheesy romance novel. Or worse: Brock.

Misty's appearance reminded Ash distinctly of her countenance their night in Maiden's Peak, sans the kimono. Her usual side ponytail was forgotten; instead, her shoulder-length red hair hung loosely about her face, which seemed to have escaped too much wreckage from her sisters. Her makeup was only enough to lightly accent her eyes and add a tiny bit of glow to her face. The dress she wore bore a halter neckline, which draped gracefully across her dainty bare neck. It began as a sheer aquamarine, but as his eyes drew lower and took in the tapering waistline and billowing lower half that dangled inches above her strappy blue heels, he notices that the hue darkened, and ended in a deep midnight blue. Added to her sheepish smile, Ash could not think of a more perfect outfit for his best (Human) friend.

"Close your mouth, Ash," Misty laughed after a prolonged silence, "I'm not wearing this anyway."

"Oh yes you, like, _are_, Little Sister!" Daisy retorted, busting into their awkward little conversation. Her face was filled with anger and determination. "We worked hard to make you look, like, acceptable for public, and you're _not_ gonna ruin it!"

"I wasn't gonna _ruin _it," Misty protested, "I was only going to… _improve_ it a bit."

After several minutes of arguing between the four sisters, she finally appeared to succumb. Arms crossed tightly over her chest, she said disdainfully, "…Fine. I'll wear this. But I won't like it." But when Daisy, Violet, and Lily seemed satisfied and strutted from the room, Misty gave her best friend a mischievous smile and a wink and reluctantly exited behind them.

"You think she's really going to wear it?" Tracey asked, still new to the relationship between the Sensational Sisters and their little sister.

"Pikaa.. Pikachupi pi Pikachu." Pikachu answered, thrusting its arm in the air in a confident manner.

Ash grinned at the yellow mouse, and answered, "Ya got that right, Buddy."

---

The three days that followed were dully uneventful. The entire gang remained in the Ketchum household, much to the delight of Delia. She spent most of her time in the kitchen, busily cooking gourmet meals for her guests and her son, with occasional assistance from Brock, of course. As it was not unusual for Brock, Misty, and Tracey to remain as visitors for days - even weeks - at a time, she was accustomed to caring for a congregation of young adults. In fact, she seemed happiest when she was cleaning or preparing food for the teenagers that insisted upon invading her home. In between meals, and after school was through, she found joy in sharing with her son and his companions her own experiences with dances. She was positively thrilled that her Ash was escorting Misty - "I always _knew _the two of you would make a lovely pair!" - and made sure all of her tenants knew it.

So for those three days, Ash and Misty endured her constant enthusiasm and high-spirited babble, along with the intentionally teasing jokes and smirks that came of it. Misty refused to protest when Daisy began calling Ash 'Your Little Boyfriend' in private, and Ash didn't say a word when Brock and Tracey would nudge and badger him at the slightest mention of the redhead's name.

"You're the one who wanted me to go with her," he growled at Brock, who immediately caught the hint, and dropped all of his taunting instantly.

Every day Mrs. Ketchum's excitement grew, until the morning of the dance - Valentine's Day. She stood in the kitchen, cooking pancakes and eggs and an assortment of other breakfast foods, while Mr. Mime swept incessantly behind her. Daisy, Violet, Lily, and their two drooling lackeys had long since left to search for even more needless accessories to weigh them down, and Misty knew this was the perfect opportunity to test out her _real_ outfit, and to reveal it to her partner in crime.

If only she could wake Ash up.

"Ash! _Ash! _Get up, you lazy bum!" Tired of his enduring slumber, Misty unhesitantly grabbed hold of her best friends shoulder, gave him a good shake, and flipped him over, off of the edge of the bed and onto the ground. He lay, unmoving, on his stomach for a good ten seconds, limbs sprawled around his body and drool still clinging to his chin. Finally, after a few groans and grumbles, he pushed himself into a sitting position. As he leaned on his bed he rubbed his aching head.

"Nice, Misty, real classy. And you wonder why no one wants to take you to the dance."

"Oh, grow up, I only wanted to see if you like my dress."

"I already told you, you look… fine in it. Like a human female. I'll permit you to go to the dance with-" He broke off as he caught sight of what Misty was wearing.

What she was wearing was not the gorgeous blue number she had shown him the other day. Instead, Misty was draped in the most glittery, sparkly, flamboyant dress Ash had ever seen. It was a short little thing; white with spaghetti straps and a crinkly, uncomfortable-looking fabric, complete with a large blue bow that tied in the back and a matching petticoat that resembled a tutu on steroids. He had no idea whether the blue mesh that caused her dress to flare out so far was an actual element of her dress, or if she had stuffed tissue paper up there to make it all the more… poofy. Despite its… eccentric… shape, it might have been a nice dress, had it not been covered in a pattern of what looked like -

"Are those _Magikarp_?!"

"Yup," Misty confirmed proudly, trying hard not to laugh at Ash's facial expression.

When the boy was content with his gawking - five minutes' worth of gawking - his feeling of bewilderment slowly changed to amusement. He had to admit, he had encountered his share of hilarious pranks, but this one took the grand prize. "And I thought you were afraid of _me _embarrassing _you!"_

She shrugged. "One-hundred percent over that, Ashy-boy; I've moved on to embarrassing you!"

"I'm sorry to hear that, Mist, 'cause your outfit's funny, but it won't cause a scene for me, now will it?"

"Oh," she smiled coyly, motioning teasingly toward her attire, "but I never said _this _is my Master Plan!"

"Then what is?" He asked, half terrified of her response and half excited beyond anything.

"Well… let's just say… when I went out to find this outfit, I knew you'd feel left out. So instead of forgetting about you and your whiny needs, I got you a suit that'll work just _perfectly _with this dress I can see you love so much."

Ash could think of no answer to such a statement, so he merely watched her flounce out of his room, tutu flying behind her (and vinyl-platform-knee-high-lace-up-go-go-boots clunking on the floor). She shut the bathroom door with such a finality, he shook his head in priceless disbelief and fell back onto his bed. He would need his rest.

He could only imagine what nonsense would ensue later on.

--

[_"You keep on reaching for those things you just can't keep."_]

--Lunamire


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: **Oh, What A Dance

**Prompt: **#32: Night

**Pairings: **Slight hinting of Ash/Misty

**Rating: **K+

**Warnings: **A little bit of language. Not much. I'll boost the rating if I see fit.

**Notes: **Four of five, one more to go.  We actually get to the dance in this one! But not much actually happens _at _the dance…

--

"_Have you ever been alone in a crowded room, well I'm here with you…" _- **Dark Blue by Jack's Mannequin**

--

"Come on!" Misty yelled from the ground below Ash's bedroom window. She had obviously no qualms about arriving at the dance looking like an idiot, and while Ash had no problem making a fool of himself in front of the whole school (he already did that on a regular basis), Brock had told him the dance would involve no food. It just wasn't worth it if there was nothing to eat!

"I'm not going!" he answered from his windowsill. There was no way he'd be able to climb out onto a tree branch, shut his window, and leap down a whole story in the stupid outfit he was wearing. How Misty had managed with her hilarious ensemble was a mystery to him.

It had just begun to darken outside of his house, the shapes of the trees in Viridian Forest barely discernable through the waning light. Misty's figure was shady and took on an odd shape as she stood beneath his tree. She hadn't hesitated to clamber out onto the branch, and had laughed as she plummeted, feet first, toward the ground. Ash sighed when she frowned up at him, obviously more than a little pissed off.

"Get your ass down here, Ash Ketchum! I had to jump down and now you do too!"

"I'm not afraid of _jumping!" _he called back,_ "_There's no point in going to this stupid dance anyway!"

Her expression did not change at his statement; she continued to glare angrily up at him until he finally groaned. Ash may have talked big, but he wasn't about to throw his life away over something as silly as no food at the dance. It wouldn't be too difficult for Misty to march up to his room and chase him down (although it would ruin her Escape Plan since her sisters were waiting in his living room), and he supposed he could get something to eat afterward…

To be completely honest, lack of food wasn't the only issue Ash had with joining Misty to the dance. While he supposed they were faking for Brock's sake, and he knew he and Misty weren't really each others' 'dates', he couldn't manage to quell the nervousness in the pit of his stomach. Staring down at his best friend, he didn't know what to think. She _was _his best friend after all. He just couldn't understand why his thoughts of her had been fluctuating recently. One minute he wanted to kill her, the next he wanted to… but he couldn't afford to think of that right now. He'd consider his relationship with Misty later, when she didn't appear to be murderously angry.

"What's in it for me?"

"You're giving me this _now, _Ash?! Okay, if we're gonna play that game, _what's in it for you _is your life!"

Good enough answer for him.

***

"Quit being a four-year-old girl, Ash, we're almost to the school."

He didn't see how mentioning that he had tripped over seven objects of various shapes along their short trek to the school made him a four-year-old girl. But he kept his mouth shut, seeing as Misty seemed to be in a worse mood than usual. They were fighting their way through hedges and fence posts (forget that Ash lived in a small town called Pallet - a town that had _sidewalks_) since Misty was thoroughly paranoid that her sisters would be looking for her. And since everything was dark and sort of creepy, Ash had no idea whether the thing he had just stubbed his toe on was a tree trunk or a serial killer.

Sure enough, it wasn't five minutes before the brick walls of their school came into sight. Ash tugged at the collar of his hideous white suit and glanced at Misty, who was aiming determinately for the lights and sounds coming from the gymnasium. He didn't realize he was lagging behind until she looked back at him, rolled her eyes, and took his hand firmly between her gloved fingers.

He had no idea how to react to this new sensation - her digits were warm between his and he could feel his cheeks' temperatures rising to match them. She was still walking at a frenzied pace, and Ash had to quicken his step to catch up to her, but he paid that no mind. Every thought swirling through his head centered wickedly around their intertwined hands.

Ash had no idea that the hand was connected to the stomach. However, it must be, since the moment she had grasped his fingers, his insides had begun to twist and turn - he didn't know whether he was going to explode or throw up.

Before he knew it, they were on school grounds, Misty stopped abruptly at the door, and Ash barely avoided walking right into her. "So Ash, you ready for this? …Ash? You still alive, Ash?"

"W-what? Yeah!" he answered, quickly withdrawing his hand from hers. "L-let's go!"

She gave him a strange look, clenched and unclenched her fists, and said, "Well, okay…"

Ash made sure to stay at least a stride's length behind her, to be sure something like the Hand Holding incident wouldn't happen again.

***

Even an hour into the dance, they hadn't gotten as many weird looks as Ash thought they would.

Sure, they got their share of snickers, and when they walked through the entrance doors, about half of the room stopped dancing and stared for a second or two. But no one seemed actually surprised.

"Note to self," Misty murmured into his ear, "people won't react to a situation if it's something they expect."

A chill shot down Ash's spine at the feeling of her breath brushing his ear, and he took a step far away from his date to avoid a repeat (he didn't know if he could stop from shivering if it happened again). "U-uh, yeah!" he shouted over the pounding music and the loud voices of their classmates. "Ha ha! Yeah, g-good idea!"

"Are you okay?" she asked slowly, and Ash could've sworn he heard sincerity somewhere in her voice. "You've been acting weird all night."

"Yeah!" he said, ducking his head down to avoid revealing his reddening face. "I'm fine!"

Truth be told, 'I'm fine' was the farthest thing from the truth. He had no idea what was going on with himself recently. His issues with Misty and his various opinions of her weren't as easy to hide as he had thought. Despite her attempt to look as bizarre as possible, he found himself inwardly complimenting her, much to his dismay. And her attitude wasn't helping. She was touching his arm every few minutes even though he kept trying to skirt away from her fingers, and she was insulting him in a teasing manner, instead of a I'm-going-to-kill-you-if-you-don't-heed-my-every-whim way. He honestly didn't know how to react to her almost flirtatious behavior. He didn't know how long it would be before he went insane.

"Good!" she grinned at him, reaching for his hand. "Because if you ruin this for me, I'd have to kill you!"

See? Ash yanked his hand away a bit too fast and her grin disappeared instantly. Her words _sounded_ like something Misty would say, but the tone was soft and tempting and docile and coy and-

"Oh my _Mew, _my sisters are here!" Before Ash could even begin to translate her rushed exclamation, Misty had thrown herself behind her bemused best friend and was peeking over his shoulder. He followed her gaze to the entrance where, indeed, Misty's sisters had entered moments before. They were searching the crowd with very irritable expressions, hands on hips.

"What, you thought they'd skip the dance because you willed it or did you think there'd be some sorta miraculous natural disaster?"

She pinched him, hard, in the side, and began to steer him backwards. "No times for jokes, Ketchum. They see me, we're both dead."

"And where exactly is your ingenious hiding place?"

"You'll see."

--

[_"It's just dark blue."_]

--Lunamire


	5. Chapter 5

**Title: **Oh, What A Dance

**Prompt: **#34: Stars

**Pairings: **Definite Ash/ Misty right here.

**Rating: **K+

**Warnings: **A bit of language, as well as some teenage behavior of the romantic kind.

**Notes: **Five of five, the last mini-chapter.

Don't own Pokemon.

--

"_..I stood upon that silent hill and stared into the sky until my eyes were blind with stars…" _- Ralph Hodgson.

--

"This stall's taken!" Misty yelled to the girl knocking on the peeling orange door, trying to adjust her flaring skirt so Ash would have more room to stand on their shared toilet seat. Said girl groaned audibly, and went back to bouncing outside, waiting for a stall to open up.

"I can't believe you talked me into this," Ash whined in the lowest voice he could muster. "I never thought I'd _ever _be manhandled into a girl's bathroom by a _girl."_

"Might as well get it over with," Misty shot back angrily, as unhappy with their situation as he was, "Brock would've gotten you into it eventually anyway. Just be quiet, okay?"

"How long do we have to stay in here?" While visiting the girl's restroom was the typical teenage boy's dream, Ash was itching to get out of there. It didn't smell like roses, like Brock had insisted it would, and standing on a toilet with Misty to hide from her demonic sisters wasn't exactly part of that 'perfect' scenario.

Misty rolled her eyes and hissed, "_For the fifth time_, just until they check this bathroom and then leave to look for us somewhere else. Now, sssshhhh!"

Ash complied, but not without some groaning and grumbling. He had spent the whole night trying to avoid physical contact with his best friend, but now her chest was pressed into his arm and their legs were brushing each other and her hair was ruffled around her face and her breath was nervous and shaky and -

_Happy thoughts, Ash, happy thoughts. Pokemon battles and cheeseburgers and _definitely _not lips that are a foot from your face and -_

"Here they are!" Misty yelped under her breath, nudging Ash in the ribs. She pointed to the three pairs of five-inch-high heels and tried to hide her face in his shirt. In his haste to prevent her closeness, he slipped backwards, and desperately reached for the stall wall, searching for purchase. Misty wrapped her arms around his waist and yanked him back toward her. "Careful!"

"Thanks," Ash murmured, relieved. His balance had returned, and they were in their original standing position.

Only, as he slowly looked up, he realized they had adjusted. Her leg was now between one of his, and he was crouched down low over her figure - a benefit of his growth spurt in the ninth grade. One of Misty's hands was still resting on the small of his back; the other was slung over his shoulder in a now-slack grip. His right hand had switched from its previous grappling and was now situated lightly along the back of her neck, while his left was clenching a chunk of her clothing near her side. What shocked Ash most, however, was the proximity of her face.

Misty's teal eyes were right ahead of his, wide and confused and a little bit… anticipating? Her face's flushed color was beginning to deepen and her eyelashes were inches away from brushing his brow. But what frightened him most was how close her lips were.

They were right under him, open so she could breathe her weathered breaths and the rosy color he had noticed them to be not a few days earlier. He was stunned, bemused, unsure of what to do next. Misty seemed just as out of it until she began to lean - slowly, dazedly, she shifted up into his awkward embrace, her lips gently pursing, until -

"Misty, we know you're, like, in here!"

"Shit," Misty breathed, her lips moving just enough to skim across his. Ash was too disoriented to react to her curse, too busy concentrating on the lower half of her face. Her eyes were even wider than before, and she promptly withdrew from their juxtaposition. "Ash, we have to go!"

"Huh?" He sputtered, vision blurry. He could vaguely comprehend the turning of their stall's lock as someone outside tried to turn it. It _click_ed as it reached its unlocked position and the door was thrown open.

"Run!" Misty screamed, clutching her partner-in-crime's wrist tightly as she pulled him in the direction of the exit. He obediently ducked under the arms of their persuants and together they fled out of the girl's bathroom and into the swarm of high-schoolers.

Ash could obscurely feel the crowd of bodies pressing down against him, so he tried to focus on Misty's fingers clenched around his arm. When they had broken free from the gymnasium, and had escaped into the clear night air, he gladly gulped down the oxygen that wasn't sweaty and warm and hormone-y, expecting to slow down now that they were so far ahead.

No such luck.

Misty didn't falter for one second as she sprinted over the abandoned football field, her breathing labored and her palm pleasantly moist against his skin. Her now-bare feet - where she had dropped her heels was a mystery to him - pounded diligently on the grass; the only noise he could hear above the steady thumping of the waning music behind them.

The farther they ran from both the school and Misty's sisters, the more Ash's mind began to clear. He honestly didn't know what he was supposed to do - so much was happening in such a short time. Was he supposed to comment on their sort-of-almost kiss back in the bathroom, or was he expected to shut his mouth and run?

"W-where are we going?" he panted finally, wondering whether Misty had a plan of action or she was just going wherever the hell her feet brought her. It didn't take him long to get an answer.

"There!" She replied, and Ash followed her pointing finger in the direction of the road, where countless cars were parked along the sidewalk. And there in the middle of the line, in all its rusted and peeling pick-up glory was -

"Brock's truck!"

"No duh," she responded, turning so she could look behind them. "I think the coast is clear."

"Okay, I'll help you up."

They slowed to a stop, and Misty released his lower arm. Since Brock was extremely paranoid about his truck - no matter that no one would want to steal the piece of crap - Ash didn't even feel the need to check to see whether or not the door was locked. He leaned over, lacing his fingers together so he could boost his best friend into the back. She landed with a loud _thump _and reached her arms over the edge to bring Ash up with her. He grasped her fingers and used her weight as leverage as he climbed up the side -stepping up onto the tire - using his feet. He tried his best not to make scrapes on Brock's baby, but hey, the thing was in pretty bad shape already.

When he dropped into place, he rolled onto his stomach and prepared to face the music. Misty was laying in the opposite direction, her face seemingly upside down from his point of view. The lighting was a bit dim for him to read her expression, but Ash liked to imagine she was smiling at him in approval, ready to praise him endlessly for his wonderful role in their escape _and _their little moment.

"So..," he began awkwardly.

"So," she agreed, and he was a little relieved to find that she had transposed neatly from Frenzied Escapee to Nervous Best Friend/Potential Something More. He could hear her anxious breathing, along with the typical night sounds (crickets, horny teenagers making out in nearby cars, etc.) and he tried desperately to distinguish her eyes through the dusk.

"Umm… Sorry, Mist, but… do you know what that was…? Back there…?"

"In the bathroom?" She asked, a hint of humor lacing her tone.

"Yeah," he confirmed, "in the bathroom."

"Well, I dunno. It was… well, it was… it was kind of a kiss, wasn't it?"

"Good, so you noticed too." Ash tried not to laugh. He really did. But once he ran over the circumstances in his mind, he couldn't get over the hilarity of it all. Come on, a nearly-kiss in a girls' bathroom, evading nutty sisters by fleeing said bathroom, all in matching eccentric outfits… It wasn't hard for him to find it funny. After a few moments of listening to his laughter, Misty joined in, and the two of them were cracking up, rolling around in the back end of Brock's pick-up truck.

In the middle of a particularly loud chuckle, Ash adjusted his face so his mouth covered hers. Or at least he thought it did. He couldn't really judge where her lips were in the dark, so he was just guessing. He wouldn't be surprised if he was kissing her chin at the moment, but his big mouth had already ruined the moment, so he wasn't too worried.

But he knew he had aimed correctly when her lips jumped against his.

Ash didn't have much experience when it came to this sort of thing. He figured he probably shouldn't just sit there, perfectly still, but he was still skeptical about how he should respond. He tried to imitate her movements - which were _definitely _pleasant - but it ended up making things slightly sloppy and strange. Kissing upside down just wasn't as amazing as Spiderman made it look. He opened his eyes to find Misty looking back at him, slightly cross-eyed and _very _mystified. She quickly shut them.

"That was… weird," Misty said as she pulled away, hoisting herself into a seated position. "Really weird."

"Too weird," Ash acknowledged, nodding vigorously as he raised his own body to her level.

In this new position, Ash could actually _see _her face, so when he noticed the expression she was wearing did not support her serious tone, he eased her backward so she was leaning into the tailgate, pressed his hand along the nape of her neck, and kissed her again.

_This _was _much _better.

It was so much easier to execute lip-to-lip contact in an upright arrangement. He slid his mouth gently over hers, enjoying the feel of her soft, smooth lips and the light probing of her - _ohgoodMewwasthathertongue?_ He adjusted his head a bit to the right, and just when she pressed her front teeth tenderly into his bottom lip -

"You guys having fun out here?"

- the utter surprise of Brock's sudden appearance caused Misty to bite down hard.

"O-ow! Misty! Am I bleeding?!"

"Um, hi Brock," she said, shoving Ash away from her so he was sprawled on his back, clutching at his swelling mouth. "What's up?"

"Ah, nothing, just interrupting my two best friends' make out session in the _back of my truck -"_

"Holy Mew, I think you bit my lip off!"

"- ya know, the usual?"

"Uh, well, you see…"

"Ahhhh it's wet! It feels wet! It _is_ bleeding!"

"It's wet because it's attached to your mouth, Ash. Your mouth tends to be wet." Brock reassured not-so-soothingly, "And Misty would know that well, wouldn't she?"

"Look, Brock… It was… an accident?"

"You know what? I don't think it would even be fair to say anything. You guys make it too easy to insult you. Do what you want. I won't tell your sisters," Brock said exasperatedly, rolling his eyes so obviously that it could be seen through the night, and walking away with loud, angry footsteps.

"What was that?" Ash inquired, watching him leave with confused eyes.

"It's either that time of the month, or his girlfriend ditched him," Misty shrugged.

Ash smirked up at her, and picked himself up slowly. He wrapped his arm around her slim shoulder, and his face hovered over hers. "I'm glad mine would never ditch me."

"Don't get all mushy on me, Romeo," she shot back, pinching his shoulder, "or I'll kick your scrawny ass."

"Oooh, my girlfriend's a feisty one!"

She gave him a look that was half-glare, half-grin, and shoved him to the side. "Got that right, Lover-Boy."

"So… you're admitting that you're my… girlfriend?"

He wasn't sure what that would entail, or whether it was too soon or too strange or too late. But, oddly enough, at that moment, every fiber of his being wanted her to say _yes._

"We'll talk… later. When my sisters are at least five miles away and I can actually _see _you or anybody else approaching."

Ash laughed and bent forward, eager to feel that shock up his spine when his lips brushed hers and -

"And for Mew's sake, get _off _of my _truck!"_

--

[_"..And still I stared into the sky."_]

--Lunamire


End file.
